Jergal
The Pitiless One Scribe of the Doomed The Forgotten One Seneschal of the Crystal Spire The Final Scribe The Bleak Seneschal Formerly: Lord of Bones Lord of the Dead Protector of the Names of the Dead Guardian of Tombs King of the Walking Dead | aspects = Nakasr | primordial = | pantheon = | race = | gender = | power5e = | alignment5e = Lawful neutral | symbol5e = A skull biting a scroll | homeplane5e = | realm5e = | serves5e = Kelemvor | servedby5e = | portfolio5e = Records of the dead | domains5e = Knowledge, Death | worshipers5e = Undertakers | cleric alignments5e = | channel divinity5e = Knowledge of the ages Read thoughts Touch of death | holy days5e = | class5e = | refs5e = | power4e = | alignment4e = | symbol4e = | dominion4e = | realm4e = | serves4e = | servedby4e = | sphere4e = | domains4e = | worshipers4e = | cleric alignments4e = | channel divinity4e = | holy days4e = | class4e = | refs4e = | power3e = Demigod | alignment3e = Lawful neutral | symbol3e = Jawless skull and writing quill on scroll | homeplane3e = The Fugue Plane | realm3e = | serves3e = | servedby3e = | portfolio3e = Fatalism Guardian of tombs Proper burial | domains3e = Death, Fate, Law, Repose, Rune, Suffering | worshipers3e = Monks, necromancers, paladins | cleric alignments3e = | favored weapon3e = A white glove (scythe) | holy days3e = | class3e = | refs3e = | power2e = Demipower Formerly: Greater deity | alignment2e = Lawful neutral Formerly: Lawful evil | symbol2e = | homeplane2e = Hades/Oinos | realm2e = Crystal Spire Formerly: Bone Castle | serves2e = Kelemvor Formerly: Cyric, Myrkul, none | servedby2e = | portfolio2e = Fatalism, guardian of tombs, proper burial, order in death, protector of the names of the dead Formerly: Death, the dead, funerals and tombs, undeath, the undead, wasting, old age, exhaustion, tyranny, dusk | spheres2e = | worshipers2e = | cleric alignments2e = | holy days2e = | class2e = | refs2e = | power1e = | alignment1e = | symbol1e = | homeplane1e = | realm1e = | serves1e = | servedby1e = | portfolio1e = | worshipers1e = | cleric alignments1e = | holy days1e = | class1e = | refs1e = | animals = | plants = | monsters = | minerals = | colors = | misc manifestations = | manifestation refs = }} Jergal ( }}), also referred to as The Lord of the End of Everything, is the seneschal of the Lord of the Dead who keeps records on the final disposition of all the spirits of the dead. Jergal is unfeeling and excessively formal, he never angers and always speaks in a disembodied, chilling voice. He cares little for anything besides an orderly accounting of the fate of the world as it slowly sinks into death, and he now serves Kelemvor as he previously served Cyric and Myrkul before him. In ethos, Jergal is colder and more inhumane than his master, sanctioning the use and creation of undead by his followers, provided they serve the cause of advancing death in the world. He is not evil or malicious, but impassively records the death of all things. Worshipers Church The church of Jergal is small and secretive, a rigidly organized, almost monastic order of scribes known as the Scriveners of Doom. Based largely in lifeless stone mausoleums and dry, dusty crypts, its members spend their days maintaining and extending vast archives of scrolls listing how sentients under their purview passed away and their destination in the afterlife. Only in Thay, where death is a daily fact of life, has Jergal's church undergone a small renaissance. A handful of Jergal's followers still follow the old ways of the Companions of the Pallid Mask, an order whose members specialized in combating or commanding the undead whose existence was not sanctioned by the church or who had proven to be troublesome. Clergy Clerics of Jergal pray for their spells at dusk, a time of day representative of the end of life. On the last night of the year, Jergal's clergy cease their endless toil for a full night. On this holy night, known as the Night of Another Year, the clerics read every name whose death they have recorded from the scrolls they have carefully inscribed over the past year. With a cry of "One Year Closer!", all the scrolls are then filed, and work begins the next day. The only ritual Jergal's clerics are required to perform is called the Sealing. After recording each and every creature's demise, form of death, and destination in the afterlife, Scriveners of Doom are required to sprinkle a light dusting of ash and powdered bone over their inscribed words to blot the ink and mark another small step toward the world's end. Some seek church-sponsored undeath to allow them to continue their archiving careers. Some clerics multi-class as monks or necromancers. Relationships Bane, Bhaal and Myrkul inherited most of the portfolios of Jergal when he wearily stepped down from his position and then faded into near-obscurity. The death of those deities left Jergal in the service to Cyric and then Kelemvor. Although his nature is that he must be loyal to the office of death, he can subtly undermine the holder of that office if he or she is not true to the office's responsibilities. Jergal works well with Kelemvor, but retains his scorn for Cyric and spends much of his efforts combating Velsharoon's efforts to prolong life into undeath. History Jergal is an ancient deity, older than many of the greater gods of Faerûn. In the time of Netheril, he was a greater deity himself, with the portfolios of the Dead, Murder and Strife. With the long aeons, he became bored with his position of power, and allowed for three mortals, known as the Dead Three, to each take up parts of his divinity. Bane assumed the portfolio of Strife, Myrkul the rulership of the Dead and Bhaal the portfolio of Murder. Jergal himself faded from his great stature, and became a seneschal to Myrkul, a position he has kept even after his master perished and first Cyric, then Kelemvor assumed his place. Dogma Appendix References Connections Category:Exarchs Category:Demipowers Category:Greater deities Category:Fate domain deities Category:Human deities Category:Law domain deities Category:Lawful neutral deities Category:Lawful evil deities Category:Faerûnian pantheon Category:Netherese deities Category:Repose domain deities Category:Rune domain deities Category:Seven Lost Gods of Westgate Category:Suffering domain deities Category:Knowledge domain deities Category:Death domain deities Category:Inhabitants of Oinos Category:Inhabitants of Hades Category:Inhabitants of the Outer Planes Category:Inhabitants of the Great Wheel planes Category:Inhabitants of the Fugue Plane Category:Inhabitants of the World Tree planes